Annual Energy Outlook 2018

Levelized Cost and Levelized Avoided Cost of New Generation Resources in the Annual Energy Outlook 2017

Release date: April 20, 2017

This paper presents average values of levelized costs and levelized avoided costs for generating technologies entering service in 2019, 2022,[1], and 2040 as represented in the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) for the Annual Energy Outlook 2017 (AEO2017) Reference case.[2] The costs for generating technologies entering service in 2022 are presented in the body of the report, with those for 2019 [3] and 2040 included in Appendices A and B, respectively. Both a capacity-weighted average based on projected capacity additions across the 22 U.S. regions of the NEMS electricity market module (EMM) and a simple average of the regional values are provided, together with the range of regional values.

Footnotes

[1] The first year that all technologies are available is 2022, given the long lead time and licensing requirements for some technologies.